Painting Sandblated Rock with Mask On

[Chops]

Could anyone help me with a few tips and tricks to get the best results for painting recessed letters on a sandblasted rock?

I have had trouble with painting recessed letters before on sandblasted signs. I get a messy look that i'm not happy with. I have never tried to paint recessed letters on a rock before.

I have read using a clear coat then spraying your color, then spraying a clear coat again, (before removing the mask) works best to give you clean and crisp lines.

I just wanted to check all my resources before I go with this process because I have one shot at painting this rock and I have to make it perfect.

If anyone has any tips or even paint types that work best on rocks, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[zmatalucci]

http://www.lithichrome.com/lithichrome.cfm

 

[James Burke]

+1 on Lithco.

Just make sure your stencil has been properly adhered to the stone before blasting...that makes a world of difference not only in the paint, but in the crisp edge around the lettering.

Lithco is supposed to be sprayed on heavy enough to look wet in the lettering, but it should be dry to the touch within 30 seconds to a minute. Anything longer than that means it's on too heavy. If so, it may bleed under the stencil, or it may have adhesion problems later on.



JB

 

[phototec]

+1 on Lithco.

Just make sure your stencil has been properly adhered to the stone before blasting...that makes a world of difference not only in the paint, but in the crisp edge around the lettering.

Lithco is supposed to be sprayed on heavy enough to look wet in the lettering, but it should be dry to the touch within 30 seconds to a minute. Anything longer than that means it's on too heavy. If so, it may bleed under the stencil, or it may have adhesion problems later on.


JB

Like the OP, I needed more info on this, thanks.

 

[Chops]

Well, we did it and it looks great. We never heard of the paint you guys mentioned but will have to give it a try. We adhered our stencil and it was good, we left it on after blasting and did about 6 coats of black spray paint, right out of the can. We let each coat dry for about 10 minutes and then did another. Making sure it did not go on too thick so that the paint would run like stated in the above comments. After we actived the color we wanted we clear coated the paint. Once everything was completely dry, about an hour, we removed the stencil and it looks awesome. Totally proud of how it turned out.

 

[James Burke]

Kudos. I did a job six years ago with Rustoleum and it still seems to be holding up well.

Lithichrome is a very high solvent based "stain" that does a better job of getting into the grain structure of stone...better than regular paint, in most cases.

If you use Lithco, be sure to buy the solvent...even lacquer thinner won't cut it.


JB